Typewriting machine



Oct; 13; 1931; J. A. B. SMITH TYPEWRITING MACHINE ,Filed April 16, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 MVe/rfar:

Affo a) 13, 1931- J. A. B. SMITH TYPEWRITINGMACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 16, 1925 \SER Patented 0a. 13, 1931 r f nmTEDfSr-A JESSE n. B; SMITH, or srn aroan, CONNECTICUT, assreivon To UNDER-wool) ELLIOTT FISHER .COMPANSL'OF NEW Your, 1v. "1., A flooRroRArIoN or DELAWARE rvr nwmrnveivincnmn, I

Application filed :ApriL16p-l192 5, Serial m. 23,460,"

. This'inventio n relates toimprov'ements in stencil-card writing devices for typewriting machines, and more particularly to the kind v disclosed in the patent toS; Elliott, No.

1,378,771, dated 141 5717 1921, V

In said Elliott patent a. stenc l-card hold-,

ing frame is pivoted at the rear uponth'e carriage and extends forwardly joverthe platen,

and has clamps, which-grip the stencil-card i0 at its upper'jedgefi'lo permit the stencilcard to be attached to the holder, said holder is swung upwardly, and the stencil card is then set into the holderhetween theclamps. The holder is then lowered to locate the stencil-card in its typing position. The linespacing of the stencil-card is effected by a finger-wheel on the stencil-carrying frame, which may be rotated a notch by the typist after typing of each line. r r

The carriage then has to helreturned to begin a new line oftypiirg. The finger; Wheel in said patent is-placed attherighthand end of the-stencil-card holder, so; that it maybe rotated by the right hand, thus leaving the left hand of the operator free to return the typewriter-Carriege, This, how

ever, is an awkward and time-consuming operation. Moreover the operator may chance to return thecarriage without having taken the precaution to rotate the fingerwheel, so that a second line of typing will be impressed upon the first line, thusjspoiling the stencil-card. l i

An object of the present invention is to avoid these difliculties, and, to thisend', said stencil-card holder is stepped up the usual three steps by means of a novel frame-lever which is devised for returning the typewriter-carriage, so thatawkwardness of manipulation is avoided and time is economized, and there isnochance of theoperator forgetting to elevate the frame or holder. This lever has its 1 drive stroke in carriagereturn direction, and is so connected to said stencil-card frame as not only to step it. up,

the carriage to-the 'right'to begi ew line." 5 In the present invention," there is comhlned as a unit with" the stencil-carrying frame'a complete train of line-spacing and rcarriagereturning mechanismp Said line-spacingk handle is provided with a pawl to engage a line-space wheel'on the shaft of the card 1 line-spacing mechanism. Said handle'is provided withtwo stops to engage an arm' of V v the card-supporting frame to limit the move ment of said handle in its extreme'positions. 'In the above-mentioned Elliott patent there is provided a detent in theform' of a pawl to engage a toothed wheel on the shaft of the line-spacing mechanism to hold, the

positions, and

card its various linespace the card cannot be reversely'fed.

One of the features'of the present inven- I tion relates to means 'toenable the card to be reverselylinespac edatwill to bring a pre "viously typed line to the printing point by means of the finger-wheel. To this end the line-space detefntis provided with a roller "to I engage theteeth ofthe ratchet-wheel. to enable the ratchetewheel to rotate in either di- "rec'tion I vhave also shown a deflector to 'keep the celluloid reserve strip from winding pressure-roller;

Other features. and advantages martian d after appear;

In the accompanying drawings,

chine.- y

" F1gure2 is an itself around the platen'asit is' fed under a Figure 1 is a c'ross-sect1onal view',in e'lev'a tion,-showing the device applied to the platenframe of an Underwood typewriting ma-.

end view, inelevation, of the line-spacing mechanism in its normal or re-r Figure is a fragmentary frontrview, in

elevation, of the lineyspacing mechanism.

Figure 5 is a detail, showing the line space q I feeding mechanism.

' Figure 6 is a plan view of the device, as

he platen-'frame o'f an Underwood view of the "pressure A stencil-card 10, upon which it is desired to type one or more lines of data, is inserted under aws 11 of a clamping member 12, which is pivotally mounted upon a shaft 13 on a frame 14, rockably mounted on a cross shaft 15 fasten the end plates 16 of the platenframe. The clamping member 12 consists of a sheet-metal bail having a finger-piece 17 at the center thereof, and the jaws are operated-by said bail. The jaws hold thecard in a locating :recess 18 formed in the side plates 19 of the rocking frame 14, said plates being joined together by a connecting bar 20. The finger-piece 17 co-operates with another finger-piece 21 fast to the frame by means of across-bar 22, which forms an integral part thereof. The finger-piece 17 is moved rearwardly to-open the jaws against the tension of springs 23., while at the same time the frame may be raised to insert the card between the jaws. Then the finger-pieces are :released to clamp the card, and the frame is lowered .to typing position .as shown in Figure 1.

To facilitate the loweringof the card there is provided adefiector-plate 24, which is designed tohug thecard against the platen 25 .to prevent shadowing of the types .inza case- :gosition not being imprinted upon the card. .ne of the type-bars, designated by the nu- :meral 26, isshown in frontof the platen-which serves as a backing for the card when the types are struckto cut the stencil-card.

In order to linespacethecard, so that new linesmaybe typed thereon, and in order that theline-spacingof the card maybe donesimultaneously with the return of the carriage,

there is provided a lever 27 rockably mounted upon a-pivot 28 fast to 'oneof the side frames 19. The lever .27 is operativelyconnected to .a ratchet 29 by means of a pawl 30, which .is

fitted :intova slot 31 in .the lever 27 ,and is pivoted on :a pin 32 fast to the lever so as to engage a tooth 33 of the ratchet :29, as shown in Figure 5. V

The teeth 33 of ratchet 29 may be of the same numberand have the same pitch as'the teeth in ratchet 39, as shown, although'this is not essential, as the number of teeth in ratchet 39 may be more'than those in ratchet 29. The diameters of the ratchets 29 and 39 imay be the same or different. In the present of lines the machine would ever be called upon to type.

After the lever 27 has moved the necessary number of strokes and has raised the card to its uppermost position for line-spacing, its further movements become ineffective to raise the card up any higher, as the pawl 30 on the lever 27 has no more teeth on the ratchet 29 to engage with. The lever 27 would, however, in such event, still be useful to move the carriage. When the pressure upon the lever 27 is released, the same is returned to its normal position shown in Figure 6 by means of a spring 34, which actuates both the pawl and the lever. In order that the spring may be effective to resilientlyihold the pawl in engagement with the ratchet and at the same time to return the lever, the spring has one end mounted on a stud 35 fast to the pawl, and the other end is secured to the side plate by meansof a piece36 fast thereto. For the purpose of limiting the swing of the linespacing .lever, and in order that it may be possible to return the carriage by-the action of the lever, the same is provided at the rear thereof with a fork having two prongs 37, which strike the side plate at in Figures 1 and 3.

The line-spacing of the card is effected in a manner similar to that shown and described in said patent to Elliott. There is provided a retaining ratchet or detent wheel 39, having a single setofteeth, fast to a shaft 40, which is rotatably journaled in the frame 14, and carries at theendthe feeding ratchet29. Cooperating with the ratchet 39, there is provided a retaining pawl 41 pivotally mounted at 43 on one of the side plates 19. The re- .taining .pawl isheld in engagementwith the ratchet'by means of a spring 44, and, inorder to permit back-feeding of the ratchet 39. to thus lower thecard one or more spaces, the .pawl is provided with a roller 42 engaging with the ratchet. Said roller is rotatablf mounted 'on a stud 45 fast to the pawl 41, which is limited in its swing by a stop or pin 46 engaging with a slot 47 in said pawl. When the pawl 41 is stopped by either side of the slot 47 bearing against the pin 46, the pin in pawl 41 is at one end or the other of-thesl ot 56. When the pin 70 is at the lower endof the slot 56, the detent-roller 42 is located at the bottom of the tooth on ratchet '39, and when the pin 70 is at the upper end of the slot 56, the detent-roller 42 has risen to a position high enough to permit the entire ratchet 39 to be freely rotated under it if there were no stop to prevent such excess movement. The last part on ratchet 39 to engage the roller, as the frame is raised, is formed with an inclined surface extending from the bottom of the previous tooth to the periphery of the ratchet 39, so that the inclined surface cannot act as a stop-member 38, as shown against the roller 4:2 after the card has been raised to the lastlinelof-typingb v r If,t he shaft 40 were to berotated in'the directlon of, and beyond, the line-spacing position during adjustment l by .the. rotation of the finger-wheel 48, then thedetent roller 42 wouldride up on the inclined. surface until the cam' 49 came against the stop-pin.v57,,so

that no strain. could beexerted thereby on he detent-roller 42.. In this mannerthecard I may be either raised by means of the lineto. the peculiar outline of the came?) when the same lsrot'atedpthe "frame is raised an amount equivalent to thewidth of one space between the lines of typing upon the card,

' In the Elliott patent there is shown mechanism whereby the frame ll is-automatically restored to, its normal position;correspond;

ing tothe first line of'typing upon thestenwv oil-card. Y S a1 d; mechanism; comprises 1 a spring 53 wound around'the shaft 40,;wh1ch is tensioned or loaded during the line-feeding operation. In order to restore the ratchet 29,v there is provided a one-way connection ,4 between the finger-piece 1 7 and the pawl 41,

sh'own in the form of a link 54:. connected to the jaws 11 at 55, and to the pawl bymeans of'the pin-andslot arrangement-56.- Inthis manner, when the JaWsare opened the link 54 is forced upwardly to move the rollers-2 away from the ratchet, thus permitting the shaft 40 to rotate backwardly toits normal v position shown in FigureQ; in-[wh'ich thei-cam pin 57 fast to the side plate.

l9 is arrested in its backward rotation by the From the above it will be seenthatitwo manually-operable means are provided'for raising the-frame 14 for.line-spacing,-namely, the finger-wheel 48 and the lever 27.. This arrangement permits the wheel. l8 to be used 7 as a preadju'stingjdevice to set the machine for the numberof linesto betyped, on the card. This feature ofthe invention does away with the necessity for employingaratchet having aplurality of different gro'upsof segmental teeth, each group having a differ- I ent number of teeth to be used according to the number of lines tobe typed, as employed by Elliott. Inthis'invention ratchet39 need be supplied withjonly one group ofteeth', the

I number of teeth being at leastas greatas the greatest number of lines the mach ne w ll be called upon to type. In operating thema- I chine to type a less number of lines than the number of teeth in ratchet 29,jfinger -whefel e8 v is insertedaround th-efplaten, down, a rear 141s raised in 1 Saidroller is rotat steps',-af-ter*which it'b ecomes automatically ineffective for line-spacing, as described.-

, In order to protect the platen of .theymachine; when the stencil is cut with the bare type, and to facilitate the cutting, -there isv provided abacking in the'form of strip158 of comparatively hard material having, a'sup ply at the rear of the platen. Thebacking table 59 under the platen to co-operate with feed-rollsGO, and up in front of theplaten 'pastpthe, printing point p and back under a. pressure-roll 61; T'he'pressure-roll is reel:- ably. mounted upon the shaft 52 and is held bearingiupon the backing strip by the pres- S5 sure Of aIspring GQ. Sometimes it is necessary to correct the bulging of the backing strip, and to this end the rollersupporting bail 63 is provid-ed with an upwardly-extend ing .fingenpiecelfil, through which the roll maybeswung away from the platen. v *To'prevent thebacking strip from winding 'itself around-the platen when the same "is rotated-to line-spice the same, and to present afresh-portion thereof tothe printing field, there provided aplate or deflector 65 mounted upon-a support or bail piece v66, the opposite arms of which form side-edge guides for the strip 58;; The plate is fast. to the bailpiece 7 at=671 and extends, downwardly and forwardly-t0 point closely adj aeent the platemfor llObGZLI'JUPOIl the platen at-68. In this manner the leading edge'69 of the'strip prevented from following the curvature of the-platen and-is led to the outside, as shown v i- I It will benoted that the cylindricalplaten is stationary and presents a stationary-stenciling'area-rto the stencil-cutting types; that the; backing strip is carried by the =platen;}

that the plateniis never rotated during a stenciling period except to remove a typemu ilatedar'eaof the backing strip and pre sent-a new area forthe types to out against;

theta, stenciling area; on the backing strip :1 5

willwithstanda' succession of stencil-cutting operations before it beco nes dlefective to properly cutthe cardsyand that thefsten'cil- I feeding mechanism is all mounted upon the cardcarrying frame; I

7 Variations may be resorted to within the scope; of the invention, and portions of the imProVenientS may be used without others. Having thusydescribed my inventioinI claim:

,1. In. a typewritin'g machine, the combinatiomwith a platen, a carriage therefor and; types, of an overhead displaceable frame mountable upon the carriage, means forzraisingthe frame step by step'tojline 1130' V space a stencil carried thereby, said means including a support attached to: the frame, a lever swing-able on said support',.'stops carried by the lever and wanting with. the frame to control the stroke of the lever, a ratchetwheel', a pawl for engaging the ratchet-wheel upon swinging said lever, and a spring associated with said pawl and the support for returning the lever to normal position and for causing said pawl to press against the teeth of said ratchet-wheel in allufram'eoperation positions of said lever.

2. In a typewri ting machine, the combination with a platen, a carriage therefor and types, of an overhead displaceable frame moun able upon the carriage,means for raising the frame step by step to line-space a stencil carried thereby, said means including a support attached to the frame, 'alever swingable on said support, stops carried by the lever and coacting with the frame to control the stroke of the lever, a ratchet-wheel, a pawl for engaging the ratchet-wheel upon swinging said lever, and a spring associated with said pawl and the support for returning the leverto normal positi n and. for causing said pawl to press against the teeth of said ratchet-wheel in all fr ne-operating positions of said lever, said lever including a forked end, the tines of the fork constituting stops which engage the frame to determine the normal and the active positions of said lever.

3. In a. typewriting machine, the combination with a platen, a carriage therefor and types, of an overhead displaceable frame mountable upon the carriage, means for raising the frame step by step to line' space a stencil carried thereby, said means including a support attach-ed to the frame, a lever swingable on said support, stops carried by the lever an d coasting with the frame to control the stroke of the lever, a ratchet-Wheel, a pawl for engaging the ratchet-wheel upon which swinging said lever, and a. spring'associated with said pawl and the support for returning the lever to normal position and for causing said pawl to .press against the teeth of said ratchet-wheel in all frame-op crating positions of said lever, said lever including a forked end, the tines of the fork with the frame to determine the throw of said lin'e spaci'ng lever in both directions, one of said stops enabling said. lever to employ said frame as a means forreturning the carriage a cam rota-tably associated with the frame and. coacting with a. stationary portion of the machine to liftthe frame, a ratchet-wheel operatively connected to said cam, a pawl swingably mounted on said line-spacing lever and engageable with said ratchet wheel, and a spring having one endthereof connected to the pawl and the other end thereof secured to said support, said spring being normally effective to withdraw said pawl from the ratchet-wheel and cause one of said stops to engage the frame, said spring being also efi'ec tive to press the pawl into engagement with the ratchet-teeth in all operating positions of theline-spacing lever.

5. In a t'ypewriting machine, the combination with a platen and types, of means for guiding strip of backing material inserted around the platen to protect the latter from the type-blows, said means including a stationary support at the top of the platen, and a pressure-roll for holding the strip against the platen, and adeflector carried by said support for receiving the strip after passing be yond the pressure-roll, said deflector including a lip-portion closely adjacent the platen and a body-portion extending rearwardly from the lip and then upwardly, said sup port also carrying side-edge guides for said strip.

6. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a platen and types, of means for guiding a strip of backing material inserted around the platen to protect the latter from the type-blows, said means including a stationary support at the top of the platen, a pressure-roll for holding the strip against the platen, a deflector carried by said support for receiving'the strip after passing beyond the pressure roll, said deflector including a lipportion closely adjacent the platen and a bodyportion extending rearwardly from the lip and then upwardly, said support also carrying side-edge guides for said strip, and a defiector-plate at the front of the platen for holding a stencil against said strip.

7; In a front-strike typewriting machine having a carriage and a platen thereon, and also having a frame mounted on said carriage to swing up and down thereon, said frame having means for raising and lowering a stencil-card at the front of the platen, the combination of a line-spacing train mounted on said frame to swing up therewith step by step at the line-feeding operation of the stencil-card, said line-spacing train including a forwardly-extending lever whose driving stroke is in thedirection of the return of the carriage, a

the carriage to begin a new line of typing at all elevations of said frame, detent-means for elevations of said frame, detent-means for holding the frame at its different line-spacing elevations, means for releasing thedetent independently of said line-spacing train, and permitting said frame to drop, and automatic means independent of said detent-means for disengaging said pawl from the train, and thereby making the throw of the lever inef fective after the last'line has been typed.

8'. In a typewriting machine, the combination of a carriage,a platen thereoma stencilcard-holding device including a frame swingably mounted upon said carriage for presenting a pendent stencil-card to typing position the stencil-card, said line-spacing train including aforwardly-extending lever having its drive stroke in carriage-returning direcline-space said card and also effectiveto concomitantly' return the carriage to its initial position at any elevation of said frame, to begin anew line of typing, a detent'for holdtion andeffective by manual operation to ing the frame in successive line-spaced ele- I vations, and means independent of said detent for limiting the gross extent to which said frame can be elevated by successive operations of sald-lever.

at the front of the platen, and line-spacing mechanism for raising said swingable frame step' by step to line-space the stencil-card and including a line-spacing train having a combined carriage-return and line-space le- 7 direction of the carriage-return, said lever having a fixed extent of displacement by'engaging said swingable frame, to enable the lever to employ said frame to drivethe carriage back to the beginning of a new line, said 9. In a card-typing machine, the combination with a carriage, a platen mounted thereon, and typing members, of a movable frame supported by the carriage and having a clamp ver, the drive stroke of said lever being in the JESSE A. nsMrrn. p

I to hold a card, means to raise the card verti- 7 cally in steps to hue-space the same with reference to the typing line ofthe machine, said means including a rotatable cam mounted on ashaft, afixed support mounted on the carriage for the cam to bear against, a toothed segment also on the shaft, a manual ly-operable lever engaging said segmentyto rotate the same and effective to raise the card for line spacing in the machine, said lever, having a working stroke in carriage-returning direction, means to enable said lever to return the carriage at any elevation of said frame, means to automatically disconnect the lever from said segment after fully ,raismg' the frame, and means independent of said lever to restore the parts to their initial positions. c

10, In a front-strike ,typewriting machine,

the combination with a carriage, a platen thereon, and a frame supported by said car;

riage'to rise and fall thereon, said frame having means for holding a stencil-card and i raising and lowering the same at the front of the platen, of a line-spacing train capable of lifting the frame step by-step for'line-feeding 

